A trailering vehicle such as, for example, a fifth wheel wagon, commonly has a forwardly extending tongue whose rearward end is fixedly and pivotally attached to such wagon's forward fifth wheel axle, and whose forward end comprises a trailer hitch, typically configured as a ball socket or as a hook engaging ring or eye. The lateral dimensions of the rearward end of a truck which pulls such wagon, and the forward end of such wagon commonly dictate the length of such tongue. Where such tongue has an insufficient length, and upon, for example, a sharp left turn, a “jack knife” may occur wherein the left front corner of such wagon undesirably comes into contact with the left rear corner of such truck. Accordingly, such tongues are lengthened so that such jack knifing contact is avoided upon sharp cornering. However, where the truck comprises a flatbed vehicle equipped with hay bale handling articulating arms, tongue lengthening needed to facilitate sharp cornering may displace the wagon so far rearwardly from the truck that the truck's articulating arms are unable to transfer hay bales from the bed of the truck to the wagon.
The instant inventive trailer pulling apparatus solves the above described problem by configuring a trailering tongue to include a quill and slide shaft assembly which is capable of alternately assuming trailering and bale off-loading positions.